Help my husband out with his 912E (I need this car to function!!)

[marifrances3]

He's been rebuilding his 912E for the past year. He is THIS CLOSE to done but having one more issue. Can anyone help him (and thus me!) out? Our first kid is due almost any day now and boy would I like him to be able to enjoy his car for a few weeks. He posted this on another forum but I'm trying to help him solve the problem! During engine removal, one of our over-zealous friends disconnected a bunch of wires before we were able to take pictures of where everything went.


Went to connect the battery to attempt a start and started getting arcing and smoke at neg terminal. Started thinking it must be a ground issue then went back to my "bin-o-parts" and found the following wire that I thought was just extra from PO. Now I'm starting to think it's something I forgot. Anyone have any ideas where the independent ground wires all go? This one is 32 inches long. I believe this is the only thing between me and starting the car. (I hope)




This is what the back of my starter looks like with that black ground going into the tunnel.

[pete3799]

Black wire should not be going to ground!!!
That is the positive post on the starter.
You should have just two wires going to it.
You should have 1 wire from the alternator (probably the smaller red one in your pic.) and the black one should be coming from the battery.
Not sure what the other red (larger) one is.
I would suggest unbolting those three wires ( make sure they don't touch anything)
reconnect the battery and see which of the two larger cables is live (12 volts from the battery)

Congrats on the baby.

[marifrances3]

the extra wire is going to a ford starter solenoid that the prior owner put on there. he disconnected the rest of it except for that yesterday.